Venice/Late CtW
CtW guide The Late CtW could prove to be a bag of mixed blessings. Although the Byzantine oppressors are now reduced to just the Bosporus, Morea and Trebizond, and you control Crete as well as a healthy bank balance's worth of tribute there are dark clouds. The first problems are the Adriatic. In past years, the Hungarians and Serbians have managed to resist Venetian attempts to gain control of Dalmatia. To make matters worse, a new group of Germans, the Habsburgs, have made their unwelcome presence felt to the north in Carinthia and Tyrol, which is just a stone's throw away from your lands in Italy. Even so, you should seek to form an alliance with the Habsburgs to curb Hungarian activity in the Adriatic. Next is Italy. Because of the plague, warfare now is the norm in Liguria and Lombardy, and so you should take advantage of this while you still can. Westwards into Italy and beyond, there is little headway that you might be able to achieve. Lombardy hosts a supply centre, making it an important asset as does Liguria too. Burgundy could prove to be a useful ally but you should be careful — try and find a way of keeping the Habsburgs, French and Burgundians divided and at war with one another in order to prevent them from crossing the Trentino and destroying you. Additionally, the Papal States are quite powerful, with control of both the Romagna and the Apennines where its capital of Rome are situated, so you'd best be wary of them. The Papal States may well be under the personal reign of the Roman popes, but their vassal barons have other plans, so do not expect them to be as friendly as you neighbourhood priest. All told, however, your first move might be to seize Istria from the Hungarians. By denying the Hungarians use of the armies provided by Istria, you may be able to weaken the Hungarians sufficiently, You might need to be prepared to be excomunicated, but that might be okay given your position on the peripherials of the Christian nation — friends can be found if not bought amongst those who worship Allah five times a day. In such a case, you will need to eliminate the Serbians and the Byzantines before they join forces against you if possible — or possibly even convert the Serbs into a vassal. Once this is done, you can either turn on Hungary to the north, or lead your forces to extirpate Islam from the face of the earth by destroying the Egyptians or the Turks. Even so, do not be distracted — although the Turks are weak and the Egyptians could be destroyed, the forces of the Muslim Chagatai may march west once they have conquered sufficient territory. In which case, the Turks may prove to be more of an asset than an obstacle, given Byzantine antagonism towards you. 100px|center|link=Renovatio Europam campaign CtW Objectives *Eliminate all non-aligned factions or acquire 10 colonies *Control either Bosporus; Thrace; Epirus; or Dalmatia to be able to recruit Stradiots from the Imperial Era onward. Initial startup *Territory: Venetia (level 5, glass); Crete (level 2, fish, 1 x supply) *Allies: Cyprus, Egypt *file:tribute.png: 350 *file:bonus.png: 2 x Transport Requisition, 1 x Commerce Eureka Sphere of influence *Italia, and *Tyrol, and *Sclavonia and Danubia, being: **Istria **Dalmatia, and *Western Asia, being *Crete *Epirus Category:CtW